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WonderAncient trade fact

The Incense Route carried frankincense and myrrh, fragrant tree resins, from southern Arabia to Mediterranean markets for centuries, through a chain of caravan towns, wells, forts and water systems across the desert.

Pliny the Elder, Natural History, c. AD 77

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The story behind the card

Frankincense and myrrh come from trees that grow in the dry lands of southern Arabia and the Horn of Africa. They were burned in temples and homes, and used in medicine, perfume and embalming. Pliny the Elder, writing his Natural History around AD 77, says the road from Thomna in southern Arabia to Gaza on the Mediterranean was divided into 65 camel stages, and that by the coast each camel-load had cost 688 denarii in water, fodder, lodging, tolls and payments to priests, guards and officials. Cities that controlled parts of the route grew rich, among them Shabwa in Yemen and the Nabataean capital Petra in today's Jordan, whose cisterns and dams stored scarce rain for the caravans.

Türkçe oku
Tütsü Yolu, güzel kokulu ağaç reçineleri olan günlük ve mürü yüzyıllar boyunca güney Arabistan'dan Akdeniz pazarlarına taşıdı. Kervanlar çölü, yol boyunca sıralanan kentler, kuyular, kaleler ve su düzenleri sayesinde aşabiliyordu.
Yaşlı Plinius, Naturalis Historia, MS 77 dolayı

Günlük ve mür, güney Arabistan ile Afrika Boynuzu'nun kurak topraklarında yetişen ağaçlardan elde edilir. Tapınaklarda ve evlerde tütsü olarak yakılır, ilaç ve parfüm yapımında, mumyalamada da kullanılırdı. Yaşlı Plinius, MS 77 dolaylarında yazdığı Naturalis Historia'da, güney Arabistan'daki Thomna'dan Akdeniz kıyısındaki Gazze'ye uzanan yolun deve kervanları için 65 konağa bölündüğünü anlatır. Ona göre kıyıya varıldığında her deve yükünün maliyeti su, yem, konaklama, geçiş ücretleri ve rahiplere, muhafızlara, memurlara yapılan ödemelerle 688 denarius tutuyordu. Yolun bazı kesimlerini denetleyen kentler zenginleşti. Yemen'deki Şebve ve bugünkü Ürdün'de, sarnıçları ve barajlarıyla kervanlar için kıt yağmur suyunu biriktiren Nebati başkenti Petra bunlardan ikisidir.

Sources and further reading

Background reading: Incense Route
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